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jessica frost-ballas

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Add a little sparkle…(part 1)

16 Sep

Good morning!  If you’re a regular reader of my blog you know that I usually can’t resist adding a little extra sparkle to my cards, whether it be through shimmer sprays, embossing powders, perfect pearls, etc.  I decided it would be fun to make a bunch of cards using various methods to add sparkle to the backgrounds!  Some methods and products are probably quite familiar to you but some might be new!  😉 I’d love to hear which method is your favorite or if you have another way of making things sparkle!

So anyway, I ended up with way more cards than I expected…ha ha…so today I’m sharing three using two different methods!  I received a gift certificate to Papertrey Ink for my birthday (thanks Effie!) and my order arrived yesterday so I decided to play with my new stamps and dies and use them for today’s examples!

Here are the first two cards:

IMG_5450I have been wanting that die from PTI for ages and I’m so excited to finally have it!!  For the first card I blended distress inks onto Canson watercolor paper.  I followed the general shape of the flower die and used picked raspberry, dried marigold, and spiced marmalade distress ink.  The Canson is my new favorite watercolor paper…it blends distress ink BEAUTIFULLY and so effortlessly!  As the distress ink was drying I took a spritz bottle and mixed a blend of water and Winsor & Newton iridescent medium.  I LOVE my iridescent medium…you’ll see me use it a lot over the next few posts!  I spritzed that all over the watercolor panel until it was evenly covered with shimmer.  I let it dry naturally and then, for the first card, I die-cut the Mighty Blooms coverplate, being careful to keep the little pieces inside the die.  I turned over the die and added tiny pieces of foam mounting tape to each of the petals.  Then I simply lined up a piece of black cardstock over the die and pressed it over the foam mounting tape to transfer the petals to the black cardstock.  For the second card I trimmed the outline of the die panel and adhered it to a black cardstock base.  To finish off the cards I die-cut the Lawn Fawn Scripty Congrats and Scripty Thanks with black and light coral cardstock and off-set them before adhering them to the card front.

I like the way the iridescent medium adds a even shimmer over the entire panel but the actual bits of sparkle are slightly larger than the perfect pearls shimmer sprays.  When the water hits the distress ink it also moves the ink around and creates an interesting texture.  You can dilute the iridescent medium as much or as little are you want…it can be subtle or quite bold!

Then here’s my third card…this card was originally intended to go in a totally different direction but it just wasn’t working the way I envisioned.  However I did a little improvisation and this actually might be my favorite card now!  Ha ha, put on your sunglasses…this card practically glows!

Sparkly, huh? 😉  Ha ha…so for this card I blended an odd combination of distress inks onto watercolor paper.  From the top I used Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers, Evergreen Bough, and Festive Berries!  I love that purply shade that the Evergreen Bough and Festive Berries create!  Next I pressed my versamark ink pad all over the panel and then sprinkled it with Wow Clear Hologram Sparkle embossing glitter.  I set it with my heat tool and once the powder melted it created a gorgeous sparkly background.  That embossing powder has big pieces of glitter throughout as well as a clear shimmery powder…it’s simply stunning up close!

Next I die-cut one of the butterflies from Papertrey Ink’s Beautiful Butterflies with vellum and white cardstock.  I stamped one of the layers with versamark and then heat-embossed it with the same powder.  I turned the vellum layer upside down and colored it with two copic markers.  I adhered the butterfly layers with foam tape and then glued the white cardstock to my background panel with multi-medium matte.  To finish the card I stamped the sentiment from Altenew’s Label Love with versafine and heat-embossed it with clear powder.  I wound a little bit of white thread behind the sentiment and then adhered it to the panel with foam mounting tape.  I added a sprinkling of black sequins and then offset the panel onto a white cardbase.

Of all the cards I created, this one definitely has the most obvious sparkle.  I purchased the hologram sparkle embossing glitter a few weeks ago but wasn’t as excited with it when I used it for a sentiment…however, using it for highlighting an inked background?!  Bestill my heart, it’s gorgeous!

So there you have it…my most subtle sparkle along with the most in-your-face sparkle! 😉  Which one do you prefer so far?  I’ll have four different examples tomorrow!

Supplies:

Interested in the products I used?  To make them easy for you to find, I have listed them below. (Affiliate disclosure can be found here). Your purchases help keep my blog running and I thank you for the support!)

Wow Embossing Powder WOW! Embossing Powder, 15ml, Clear Hologram Sparkle
Winsor Newton Watercolor Iridescent Medium-75ml
Ranger Inkssentials Mini Misters, 3-Pack
Ranger Multi Medium Bottle, 0.5-Ounce, Matte
Tsukineko Full-Size VersaFine Instant Dry Pigment Ink, Onyx Black
Tsukineko Full-Size VersaMark Pigment Inkpad, Clear
Scotch CAT 085 Advanced Tape Glider with 2 Rolls of 1/4-Inch by 36-Yard Acid Free Tape,Cure Pink
PTI Beautiful Butterflies Layers
PTI Beautiful Butterflies Die Collection
PTI Beautiful Butterflies Layers Die
PTI Mighty Bloom Coverplate Die
Altenew Clear Stamps, Label Love
Lawn Fawn Custom Craft Dies – Scripty Congrats dies
Lawn Fawn – Lawn Cuts – Scripty Thanks Dies
EK Tools Powder Tool, New Package
Milwaukee Model 1400 Heat Gun
Sizzix 657900 Big Shot Cutting/Embossing Machine with Extended Multipurpose Platform, Powder Blue/Te
Singer 150-yard All Purpose Polyester Thread, White
Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White 80# Cover 8.5
Bazzill Card Shoppe Cardstock, Licorice Twist, 25 pk
MFT Peach Bellini Prestige Cardstock
MISTI
Canson Watercolor Pad For Beginners 9 in. x 12 in.
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad, Festive Berries
Ranger DIS-27188 Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad, Tumbled Glass
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad, Salty Ocean
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad, Peacock Feathers
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad, Evergreen Bough
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad, Spiced Marmalade
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad, Dried Marigold
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad, Picked Raspberry
Ranger Ink Blending Tool, 1-Inch Round
Ranger Inkssentials Ink Blending Tool-with 2 Blending Foams
6mm CUP SEQUINS ~ Opaque Jet BLACK ~ Loose paillette sequins for embroidery, applique, arts, crafts,
InLinkz.com

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Comments:
25 Comments
Categories:
card-making, crafting
Tags:
altenew, distress ink, iridescent medium, lawn fawn, papertrey ink

« Trying new things and Crafting Cues giveaway winner! :)
Add a little sparkle… (part 2) »

Comments

  1. Michael Bakeler says

    September 16, 2015 at 9:38 am

    What beautiful cards Jessica! Ordering me some holographic embossing glitter!

    Reply
  2. Joan B says

    September 16, 2015 at 10:06 am

    wow these are fabulous!

    Reply
  3. Rubeena says

    September 16, 2015 at 12:30 pm

    WOW gorgeous! I love sparkle, too 🙂

    Reply
  4. Marlene B. says

    September 16, 2015 at 4:36 pm

    OMG!!! So very beautiful! I need this PTI Coverplate die!

    Reply
  5. KatieP says

    September 16, 2015 at 4:51 pm

    Gorgeous set of cards. You must have had a blast making these! Can’t wait to see your next set!

    Reply
  6. Celeste Goff says

    September 16, 2015 at 7:19 pm

    What beautiful cards Jessica!

    Reply
  7. Beth K says

    September 16, 2015 at 11:33 pm

    Hey Jess, I love your cards, and my fav is also the butterfly one….It totally reminds of cakes with that very course sugar on the top of the frosting!! This card looks seriously looks good enough to eat !!! I could just take a bite out of it….lol!!! Can’t wait to see the rest of your sparkly videos!!

    Reply
  8. Sonam says

    September 17, 2015 at 2:06 am

    Beautiful cards 🙂

    Reply
  9. Shona Chambers says

    September 20, 2015 at 1:54 am

    So incredible Jessica!! I especially love the last one with the butterfly, the sparkly background is so amazing. I need to get some of that embossing powder asap!!!! Your so clever!

    Reply
  10. Jennifer says

    September 23, 2015 at 9:16 am

    Beautiful! I love that sparkly, glowing card. Gotta do that with my PTI butterflies now!

    Reply
  11. Ina Good says

    September 23, 2015 at 10:11 am

    Simply Gorgeous Watercolor cards love the irridescent medium!

    Reply
  12. Rosali says

    September 23, 2015 at 11:19 am

    That sparkle looks soooo pretty! I mainly use wink of stella, but I would love to get my hands on this sparkly clear embossing powder!!

    Reply
  13. Yvonne C. says

    September 23, 2015 at 12:02 pm

    Gorgeous. Love the distress inks you chose and that hologram glitter is stunning. Awesome job!!

    Reply
  14. Amye says

    September 23, 2015 at 12:59 pm

    Love the sparkle! Thank you for sharing.

    Reply
  15. glow:) says

    September 23, 2015 at 1:08 pm

    hello there jess… i thot i had commented some days earlier when i was on your post.. if i have just discount this one…. unless you have a better idea.. k i am going to order that irridescent medium as soon as i can afford… 🙂 i love your sunshine and popping awesome cards… and i am enthused to learn more… 🙂 thanks so much as i know there is a lot of effort going into your blog. LOVE LOVe all.keep “carding”on…

    Reply
  16. Dot Freel says

    September 23, 2015 at 1:52 pm

    I love both cards. I have to try to add sparkle to a card besides my wink of Stella pen.

    Reply
  17. Sue D says

    September 23, 2015 at 3:24 pm

    Love all of them. I prefer a subtle sparkle for myself but have friends who would love the sparkle on the butterfly card.

    Reply
  18. Denise Bryant says

    September 23, 2015 at 6:21 pm

    Gorgeous cards! I love the dies you used and your fabulous color combos!

    Reply
  19. Susie Locicero says

    September 23, 2015 at 9:05 pm

    Beautiful work. I loved all 7.

    Reply
  20. KT Fit Kitty says

    September 23, 2015 at 11:16 pm

    Absolutely gorgeous! So much sparkly goodness!

    Reply
  21. Robin says

    September 24, 2015 at 5:34 pm

    I absolutely love your style!

    Reply
  22. Myra says

    September 24, 2015 at 9:34 pm

    Love these!

    Reply
  23. Miriam Prantner says

    September 25, 2015 at 2:07 pm

    Wow that Holographic embossing powder is just unreal! I need some, that last card is a showstopper!

    Reply
  24. Jean Bullock says

    September 26, 2015 at 11:37 am

    You are such an awesome designer!

    Reply
  25. Joyce Spear says

    September 26, 2015 at 5:25 pm

    I’m loving this series of posts! Thanks to a referral by Ken Oliver, I started with the fourth post. After reading this one as well, I’ve decided to read through all four posts and take notes! Thank you for creating this series and sharing what you know!

    Reply

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Hi, I'm Jess! Thanks for visiting my blog where I share my adventures in cardmaking and papercrafting! I hope I can inspire you to craft with a little extra sparkle!

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